Intersection of Purpose and Now

Do you provide training? How valuable is the training you attend either for professional or personal development?  

In our post yesterday, I discussed typical experiences people describe about training, and I shared six key things that should be shaping the future of personal and professional development.  We discussed what training is, and what it is not, and listed some key elements that shape the human development processes that we provide.

And in yesterday’s article, I closed with another question: with the average person’s experience with training being less than desired (and the average company’s expectations from training seldom met), does my company provide training?
Well, no, we do not provide what could be classified as “entertrainment” anyway. 

First, we’re in the performance development business. We develop people who seek to make a difference in the world around them, regardless of the training, education or experience they already have, and this varies widely among our clients. When we get people focused on their own clearly articulated search for meaning, self-motivation kicks in and the outcome of “training” becomes transformational for both the individual and for the relationships, organizations and communities in which they play roles. (For example, it’s amazing how salespeople sell more once they discover a powerful personal reason for selling more!)

Second, we avoid the “one-hit wonder” approach to learning with our clients, instead providing multiple exposures to information and practice. You learned everything from your multiplication tables in elementary math to the theme song to “Fresh Prince of Belair”, not always through conscious practice but sometimes through quite unintentional repetition. For some reason adults come to believe they have outgrown the need for repetition, yet it is still how we learn most and how we learn best. So we build in repetition of concepts, tools and their applications to produce intended results.

Third, most training relies on discovery and impact within the confines of the training event. I like to believe I am a presenter and speaker that people enjoy and come to admire; I certainly get that kind of feedback from participants. But any charisma or lack thereof on my part won’t mean a lick of difference to you within hours of leaving my presence! You may come across a great idea that creates enormous impact with you, yet by the time you get back to your work floor it neither will seem as clear or as great as it was in the workshop. 

Most training relies on discovery and impact learning, yet these are hard to replicate or the impact is negative and destructive rather than performance-enhancing. Development opportunities must be designed to help you put ideas into practice by developing new attitudes and habits to compliment your skills and knowledge. This emphasis, along with repetition, creates lasting impact. With the addition of goal-setting and achievement, not only will you create lasting impact, you will produce measurable results.

Fourth, most training concepts remain external to the personal motivations of participants. Well-designed development processes allow participants to discover the concepts and applications that mean the most to them now.  This is one of the reasons I introduce my Leadership Institute kickoff sessions by stating that my intent is less about “teaching” a particular set of leadership competencies or techniques and more about providing a safe place to ask dangerous questions, about yourself or anything. Rather than leadership “training”, consider the PDN Leadership process as the opportunity to envision, practice and become the kind of leader you really want to be.

But the intention here is not so much to “sell” you on our leadership development or other processes, although we would love to partner with you in your continuing development. My intention is to challenge you to rethink your own approach to human development and performance improvement. 

I hope I’ve given you ample food for thought. Keep checking back at The Intersection of Purpose and Now for more information.

Do you provide training? How valuable is the training you attend either for professional or personal development? These seem like simple questions requiring simple “yes or no” answers, but often they are not.

We have found that most training leads to very little, if any change: in human performance, satisfaction, or business results. Training often makes us feel good and sometimes leaves us believing that “things are going to be different from now on”, as one of my clients puts it. We have great expectations from training, yet little changes. Seldom after training do we really do anything new, at least for very long. Old habits win out, usually within hours or days of training.

I have asked hundreds of people, “What happens within the first 1-14 days after a seminar, workshop or conference?” and the answer is nearly unanimous: there is an initial intention to do something new, but the handouts soon get “round-filed”, life gets in the way and nothing really changes at all.

Training is about learning new knowledge and skills. We find that most people have the basic knowledge and skills they need to be successful. So what is missing? What do people really need? What do they really want?

We have asked many people about their experience with training, and we’ve learned six key things that should be shaping the future of personal and professional development.

1. The average learner rates training based on the entertainment value and ideas discovered during training rather than the lasting effect on performance that occurs by applying those ideas.
2. The average training participant has very low expectations from training expressed by the common phrase, “If I can take away just one idea from training it will be worth it.”
3. Most learners admit they forget what they learned through traditional training within 24-48 hours of the training event. Moreover, they typically “throw away” training notes within a couple of weeks.
4. Most learners recognize the training ideas and skills that make a difference in their work or daily lives are due to repeated application of those ideas and skills following the training. Yet few trainers provide a proven method to help learners build repetition and application into their daily schedules following training. Few employers provide any ongoing support or expectations that ensure transfer of learning from the workshop to the work floor.
5. Few learners, fewer trainers and even fewer training decision-makers seem to know how to really “make training stick”.
6. On average, ideas or new “skills” from training are seldom applied on the job.

We find people gain little from most training because knowledge and skills – the basic products of training – aren’t what they really want or need most. New ideas and skills will not make much difference unless accompanied by new attitudes and habits that will allow them to get more from the knowledge and skills they already have. 

 Knowledge and skills provide only part of the solution for getting to the other side of the challenges you face, or from getting to where you want to be from where you stand now.

These findings have shaped our developmental processes, which are unlike anything most people have experienced before. Human development processes should lead to:

1. Change in human performance, life/job satisfaction, or business results.
2. Repeated exposure to information and ongoing practice.
3. Discovery and impact within the confines of the training event coupled with spaced repetition of concepts and skills outside of the training event, including practice in the intended context of application.
4. Supporting opportunities, tools and discipline for learners to retain and apply the product of training and development.
5. A means to internalize training concepts, directly connecting them to the personal motivations of participants.
6. Direct ties to trainee and company goals before, during and after training.

So do we at PDN provide training? I’ll cover this tomorrow with Why is Good Training Such a Lousy Investment? Part 2